Comments (18)

1. How surprising I knew that!

   posted by Hannah on 11-9-2009 at 8:09 am

2. I knew it, thanks to They Might Be Giant’s Alphabet of Nations!

   posted by Eric on 11-9-2009 at 8:22 am

3. Had guessed Y, clearly forgetting Yemen. Also thought of Q originally, but remembered Qatar.

   posted by Ryan Smith on 11-9-2009 at 8:28 am

4. Come on people, West Xylophone- Geez!

   posted by pablopk on 11-9-2009 at 8:45 am

5. I guess I forgot Wales was part of the UK. So what’s th O country? I drew a blank on that.

   posted by Lee on 11-9-2009 at 8:49 am

6. Oman, mahn.

   posted by pablopk on 11-9-2009 at 8:53 am

7. Oman.

   I thought Western Sahara might have counted as a country but then I saw the part about “sovereign state” — it’s contested territory between Morocco and I think Mauritania.

   posted by Wilson on 11-9-2009 at 9:00 am

8. I immediately thought of TMBG’s “The alphabet of Nations,” too. Having kids the right age just made this one too easy.

   When my kids are older, I’ll have to find another excuse…

   Bryan

   posted by Bryan on 11-9-2009 at 10:45 am

9. Since you asked if I’d rather, Sandy, I’d rather spell it “sovereign” than “soveriegn.”

   posted by B on 11-9-2009 at 1:26 pm

10. B, you caught me. All fixed!

    posted by Sandy Wood on 11-9-2009 at 1:47 pm

11. Nice! That was fun… though I had no idea of the TMBG song.

    I ended up with my own version! :)

    I was shocked that W missed out! And, showing my age in blatant disregard for the events of 20 years ago today, I nearly wrote down West Germany.

    posted by Josh on 11-9-2009 at 3:41 pm

12. and I just tracked down the song. Very cool, but I’m very disappointed that they mispronounce one of the countries, which, to me, messes up the whole song!

    They say DoMINica (similar to how one would pronounce Dominican Republic).

    The country is pronounced DominICa (”dominique-a”).

    posted by Josh on 11-9-2009 at 3:47 pm

13. I spent a good long while trying to think of a country that starts with ‘H’. Somehow I managed to forget about the existence of Hungary, Honduras, and Haiti.

    What the h is wrong with me?

    recaptcha: devalue grandchildren

    Amen, rechaptcha!

    posted by Zach on 11-9-2009 at 4:02 pm

14. I had it narrowed down to O, W, and X for the longest time. Took a while to remember Oman.

    posted by Colin on 11-9-2009 at 4:18 pm

15. I got stuck on Wales too. There is also Yakko Warner’s fine recitation of the nations, albeit not in alphabetical order. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDtdQ8bTvRc

    posted by KitKat on 11-9-2009 at 4:38 pm

16. I too was stuck for a while on O, W, and X; it was then that I remembered Wales but forgot it was part of Great Britain.

    I do wonder how many people thought, even for a moment, of Quebec for the ‘Q’ country?

    posted by Bicycle Bill on 11-9-2009 at 5:16 pm

17. Oman is the only country in the world that starts with the letter O, while Qatar is the only country in the world that starts with the letter Q. Both are Middle Eastern states.

    Oh, and I got the puzzle right! W & X! I’m a geographical genius.

    posted by Karl on 11-10-2009 at 4:05 am

18. A bit late to the party, but I too have TMBG to thank for knowing this. I sat here going through the alphabet in my head, and before I realized what was going on, I was singing The Alphabet of Nations, completely forgetting that the song exited until then. Lol.

    posted by Tim on 11-10-2009 at 10:00 pm

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